


Danger Days

by buoyantsaturn



Category: Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (Album), Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: Guns, M/M, for someone who cant write action sequences i sure do write a lot about guns, i wouldn't call it "graphic" violence but there is violence so let's be safe, this...probably will not make sense to someone that doesnt know the source material, you know.. like everything else i write
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-04
Updated: 2019-01-04
Packaged: 2019-10-04 07:24:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17300318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buoyantsaturn/pseuds/buoyantsaturn
Summary: Sunshine looked truly desperate, and Nico was afraid that he might get on his knees and beg.“Fine,” Nico said at last. “I’ll need a supply list and a map.”Sunshine’s brilliant smile returned, and Nico was starting to think that that smile was even more dangerous than any solo run.





	Danger Days

**Author's Note:**

> im p sure i made the names clear enough but just in case:   
> ghost king - nico obv  
> doc sunshine - will  
> fandango - leo  
> red menace - rachel
> 
> enjoy!!

Nico should’ve counted himself lucky that he’d taken to being a mechanic before Better Living Industries took over Battery City and brainwashed nearly everyone who had lived there. He should’ve counted himself lucky that he’d managed to escape with his life, and found an old car-garage-gas-station out in the middle of the desert. He should’ve counted himself lucky that he’d hadn’t gotten into too many serious claps with any exterminators on his supply runs in and out of the city for the past couple of years. He didn’t think of himself as lucky until his luck started to run out.

Fandango - an elfish-looking guy who had a knack for fixing even the most wrecked cars that Nico never knew where to even start with - had been keeping an eye out for any incomings when a van pulled up outside the garage. From where Nico was, halfway underneath somebody’s ancient Trans Am, he could see red spray paint on the side that spelled out  _ AMBULANCE. _ The ambulance’s door opened and shut, and Fandango welcomed him to  _ Motorhead Ghosted - _ the fifth new name he’d come up with for the garage in the last week, but Nico was still going to veto it.

“I’m looking for the King of Ghosts,” another man said; the driver of the ambulance, if Nico were to guess.

He slid himself out from underneath the Trans Am and stood up. “It’s  _ Ghost King. _ What do you want?”

“Hey there! I’m Doc Sunshine,” the man replied, holding out a hand for Nico to shake, which wasn’t something he’d seen somebody do since he lived in Battery City, and his guard shot up instantly. However, Nico’s first thought from looking at his radiant smile was  _ Sunshine is right. _ “I’m one of the ambulance drivers for the Apollo Bay, a few zones over. See, we’re running low on supplies since our last runners got ghosted, but word around the zones is that you can get in and out of Bat City unseen. Is that true?”

“I don’t do runs  _ for _ people,” Nico said, already anticipating where this conversation was going, and from the look on Sunshine’s face, he’d guessed right. “I go when a group is short on people, but I don’t do solo. If you’re up for it, I guess I can make an exception and go duo with you, if you’re that desperate.” 

Something flashed in Sunshine’s eyes, and his smile dropped. “No, I-- I can’t go back. I need you to make an exception. All I’m asking for is medical supplies, nothing solely for me but for everyone in the zones.”

Nico tried to hold his ground, but Fandango was giving him a look like  _ c’mon, man! _ “What’s in it for me?”

“Free medical care, no expiration date,” Sunshine replied. “It’s not much, but it’s all I can offer. You know the Scarecrows are making their guns more and more deadly by the second, and not everyone is skilled enough to keep a gunshot victim alive.”

As much as Nico didn’t want to accept - solo runs were  _ dangerous, _ even more so than team runs - Sunshine looked truly desperate, and Nico was afraid that he might get on his knees and beg.

“Fine,” Nico said at last. “I’ll need a supply list and a map.”

Sunshine’s brilliant smile returned, and Nico was starting to think that that smile was even more dangerous than any solo run.

 

* * *

 

Nico found soon enough that it was nearly impossible to say no to Sunshine’s smile - for him, at least, but Fandango never seemed to have a problem. About once a month, Sunshine would pull up in his rusty van and flash that beautiful smile as he handed over a map and supply list, and Nico would head out. Half of the time, Nico would return in the middle of the night - it was always easier to sneak into the tunnels after dark - and would find Sunshine asleep on the mattress on the floor of the garage that Nico had claimed as his own.

The other half of the time, Nico wouldn’t be able to escape after dark, meaning he had to floor it out of the city as he dodged gunshots, driving through six different zones before returning to the garage to ensure that he wouldn’t lead any Dracs back home. Usually he was lucky enough to get away unharmed - he had yet to need that medical care Sunshine had promised, until now, of course.

He’d taken a shot to the leg when he was loading supplies into his car which made it very difficult to drive his manual car, but he powered through until he reached the wide-open expanse of the desert. Nico would rather bleed out in his car than let himself get caught by the Dracs and brainwashed. 

He managed to lose to cars tailing him and skid to a stop outside the garage. He stumbled out of the driver’s seat, calling for help before he collapsed in the dirt. He heard fast footsteps approaching him and struggled to look up, seeing Doc Sunshine kneeling down next to him. 

“Hey, Doc, does my health insurance cover this?”

And then he passed out.

 

He woke up in his underwear with a bandage wrapped around his thigh. Nico sat up on his mattress with a groan, eyes searching the garage but finding himself alone. He struggled to stand, leaning heavily against the wall to keep himself upright and stumbled around the corner where he saw Fandango heating something up on a hotplate.

Nico cleared his throat, about to speak, when Fandango noticed him standing there and said, “Oh, dude, I don’t think you’re supposed to be walking around on that leg.” He turned away from Nico and shouted, “Hey, Doc, he’s up!”

Sunshine seemed to appear out of nowhere, but that might’ve been due to Nico’s pain-hazy head.

“You shouldn’t be out of bed, Ghost!” Sunshine told him, and suddenly he was at Nico’s side, slipping an arm around Nico’s waist and pulling Nico’s hand around his shoulder until he could support Nico enough that they could walk back to Nico’s bed.

“What are you still doing here?” Nico asked as Sunshine gently lowered him to sit on the mattress. “I got your supplies, I figured you would have left by now. Don’t you have patients to fix or something?”

Sunshine raised an eyebrow at him as he sat down beside Nico. “I do have a patient to fix, Ghost.  _ You.” _

Nico scrunched up his nose. “What are you talking about? I’m fine.”

“You can’t even walk on your own,” Sunshine pointed out. “You lost a ton of blood, and just slept for about twenty hours. You’ve got me here for another two days so I can make sure your leg doesn’t get infected.”

Nico rolled his eyes. “I don’t need a babysitter.”

“It’s cute that you think that,” Sunshine replied, smiling at him, and any argument Nico could have thought up died on his tongue.

 

* * *

 

Sunshine had started coming around more and more often, claiming that he was checking on Nico’s gunshot wound, though after the second or third unusual visit he wasn’t even asking about Nico’s leg anymore. 

Nico and Fandango had gotten into the habit of keeping an eye out for Sunshine since he’d been stopping by at seemingly random times, and it was because of this that Fandango had spotted a dust cloud on the horizon.

“Ghost King, we got incoming!” Fandango shouted into the garage, and went to grab his gun and pull on his mask before dragging Nico out from underneath a car. “Dracs in the zone, Ghost, grab your gun!”

“Oh shit,” Nico said, jumping up and grabbing his gun and mask from under his pillow before crouching next to the car he’d been working on. He could see Fandango outside the garage door, hiding behind one of the broken gas pumps, gun at the ready. Nico kept his eyes on Fandango, ready to jump to help him when he started shooting, but then Fandango lowered his gun and straightened up.

“False alarm,” Fandango called back to him, “it’s just Doc Sunshine--  _ Shit!” _

Fandango dropped, narrowly avoiding a laser that shot past him.

“I don’t think that’s Sunshine,” Nico said to himself. He stood up and hurried toward the wall of the garage next to the open door, peeking around just as Sunshine’s van flew past. Nico watched as the van tried to turn around the side of the garage, but the turn was too sharp and the van tipped, sliding on the driver’s side across the sand.

Nico tried not to panic and focused instead on the two solid white cars that had been following Sunshine, which had slowed to a stop outside the garage. As soon as the first car door opened, Fandango had opened fire, taking out two Dracs before Nico could even raise his gun. He stepped out and started firing at the second car, though no Dracs stepped out. Instead, the engine started up again and the car started to pull away. Nico shot out one of the tires, but the car kept moving.

Once the second car was out of range, Nico turned his attention to the first car, but Fandango had already taken the Dracs out and unmasked them. 

Suddenly remembering the overturned van, Nico spun around and ran toward it, ripping the back doors open and crawling inside. “Sunshine?”

“That you, Ghostie?” Sunshine croaked, and Nico saw him shift in the driver’s seat.

“Yeah, it’s me,” Nico replied and kneeled down behind his seat. He reached down to unclip the seatbelt. “Nobody buckles up anymore, Sunshine.”

“If I hadn’t I’d probably be dead,” Sunshine said, and groaned as he started to rise out of his seat, and Nico offered him a hand to help him climb over the seat.

“Are you alright?” Nico asked. “Did you hit your head? Is anything broken?”

“I’m fine, I think,” Sunshine said, throwing an arm around Nico’s shoulders to support himself as they stumbled back out of the van. 

When they stepped out into the light, Nico noticed Sunshine holding an arm across his stomach. “What’s wrong? Did you get shot?” He wrapped his fingers around Sunshine’s wrist and tried to pull it away when Sunshine hissed in pain.

“No, I-- It’s sprained, I think. My wrist. But I’m fine.”

Nico glared up at him. “You’re  _ not _ fine.”

Sunshine seemed taken aback by Nico’s intensity, and laughed uncomfortably when he said, “That mask is, uh, pretty intimidating. I can see why you wear it around BLI.”

“What do you need to fix up your wrist? I’ll get it from the van, and you go sit down inside the garage.”

“Ambulance,” Sunshine said, almost like a reflex. “And an ace bandage should be enough, and a sling if you can find one. Or a big piece of fabric that I can use as one.”

Nico nodded and ushered Sunshine toward the garage. When he finally managed to pry his eyes off the blond, he searched for Fandango, who was pulling the masks off the dead Dracs. “You good, Fandango?” he called out to him.

“Not a scratch,” he replied with a grin, and held up the group of masks by the fake hair on the tops of them. “Gonna take these out for the Phoenix Witch, don’t wait up for me.”

“Keep your boots tight and your gun close.”

“Right back at you.”

 

* * *

 

 

Without his van, Sunshine had no place to go, meaning he was stuck with Fandango and Nico until the two of them were able to get the ambulance up and running again. It had taken them an entire day on its own just to get the van tipped back onto its wheels, and there was no telling how much work it would need before it started up. The only good thing about the situation was that Sunshine happened to have wrecked it at the best garage in the zones.

While Sunshine was physically fine aside from his wrist, the chase and the wreck seemed to have screwed with his head, causing him to wake up in the middle of the night from terrible nightmares that he always claimed not to remember whenever Nico asked about them. He’d taken to sleeping on Nico’s mattress with him since it wasn’t like there was a guest room in the garage, and Nico had scored a bigger mattress than Fandango, but that just meant that whenever Sunshine woke up, so did Nico.

There was only one night that Nico managed to get Sunshine to talk.

He’d woken up from a nightmare, just as he had with every other one, by sitting up and gasping for breath, loud enough that Nico - who was a very light sleeper already - would wake up with him and ask if he was okay. Normally, he would get shot down quick, but this one night, Sunshine whispered, “They almost got me.”

“Who almost got you?” Nico asked, feeling like his fight or flight response had been activated.

“Scarecrow,” Sunshine answered. “The Dracs, they… They were so close and they were shooting at me, and the ambulance was out of gas - I was running on  _ fumes, _ Ghost. I didn’t think I would make it here before they got me, but I did, and you and Fandango-- I would be  _ dead _ without you, Ghost.”

Nico didn’t understand what he was talking about. Was this all in his dream? Or was he talking about his actual crash?

Nico put his hands on Sunshine’s arms and maneuvered him until he was leaning back against the wall but still sitting up. “I’m gonna get you some water, okay, Sunshine? You need something to help calm you down.”

As Nico started to move back, Sunshine’s hands shot out and grabbed him, holding him close. “Don’t go.”

“I’m not leaving, I’ll just be right around the corner.”

“No, Ghostie, I--” Sunshine made a frustrated noise. “I almost got ghosted - or _ worse - _ before I could tell you that… That I--” He met Nico’s eyes in the dark, drawing him closer and closer until his gaze dropped to Nico’s mouth and then they were kissing. Sunshine’s hands were holding tight to Nico’s arm and his shirt and he was kissing with so much passion that Nico felt like he had to rush to catch up. 

“If this is how you thanked Fandango too, then I’m gonna be pissed,” Nico muttered in a daze before pulling Sunshine close again and pressing their lips together once more.

 

* * *

 

Nico and Fandango had this system worked out: one of them would work on whatever car was in the shop until their hands went numb, and then they would tag the other in. It gave them each plenty of time to work on other things - assorted machines for Fandango and usually Battery City runs for Nico - because they each had a problem with hyperfixating on their work and not acknowledging the passage of time.

Their shifts became a little more regular whenever Sunshine was around, because working so much wasn’t  _ healthy, _ apparently. Plus, there was the new excuse for getting Nico to work less, which was spending time with Sunshine and making out a lot. It was much more compelling for Nico than it was for Fandango.

There had been a few things high up on Nico’s list of things he wanted to do with Sunshine (the first was more kissing - because now that he’d started, Nico didn’t ever want to stop - but the second and third were to get Sunshine his own mask and gun).

Luckily for Sunshine, Fandango had made it pretty easy for any zone runner to get a mask and a gun, because he’d made vending machines that dispensed them for free - with stickers on everything that suggested that some kind of donation be made to the garage-slash-gas station on the side of Route Guano in Zone Two. Of course, these things were dispensed plain, which meant that Nico and Sunshine needed to customize them; Sunshine couldn’t very well go around sporting  _ white _ of all things.

With his sprained wrist still up in a sling, Sunshine could only do so much decorating, so Nico had spray-painted his mask and gun a solid yellow and helped to add detail once they’d dried - the drying time gave them more opportunity to lounge around on Nico’s mattress and make out for a little while.

The completed mask was yellow with an orange sunrise, and the gun had  _ sunshine _ written down the barrel, and when he handed them over to Sunshine, Nico said, “We’ve got a saying out here in the zones: keep your boots tight, keep your gun close, and die with your mask on if you’ve got to.”

Nico would admit that the last time he’d run into a couple of Dracs, he hadn’t taken the time to drop their masks off for the Phoenix Witch because he liked to use them for target practice out behind the garage. He set them up on the branches of a cactus and drew a line in the sand a short ways away, and instructed Sunshine to stand behind the line.

“It’s a simple point-and-shoot, Sunshine,” he said, placing the gun in Sunshine’s hand and tugging the mask over his eyes. Nico stepped back and dropped into a chair, hitting the switch to turn on the radio next to him and prepared to watch.

Sunshine raised his gun, holding it with his one good hand, and pointed it toward one of the Drac masks. Nico noticed the barrel starting to shake: slowly, just barely at first before it turned rapid and Sunshine lowered the gun and pulled the mask off his face. “I-- I can’t, Ghost,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m supposed to fix people, not hurt them, and those-- They used to be people, too.”

Nico rose from his seat and stood toe-to-toe with Sunshine, reaching down to wrap his hand around Sunshine’s good hand. “I just want you to be able to protect yourself. Don’t you remember how messed up you were? You didn’t sleep for days because you were almost ghosted without any way to defend yourself. I’m not saying that you’ll ever have to shoot somebody, but I want you to know in case I’m not there to protect you.”

Sunshine sunk down until his forehead was pressed to Nico’s, his eyes fallen shut as he sighed. “I know. You’re right, but… Can we take the masks off?”

“Sure thing, Sunshine,” Nico said, and stepped back to remove the masks.

“And is the music really necessary?” Sunshine called after him.

Nico turned back with a look of shock. “Are you kidding? This is Mad Gear and Missile Kid, this is  _ prime _ target practice music! These guys were the shit before they got ghosted!”

_ “The shit?” _ Sunshine repeated with a laugh. “What year do you think this is?”

Nico turned back to the cactus and took down the masks. “How should I know? No calendars in the zones. Besides, I thought you would like this song.” He nodded his head to the beat and mumbled a few of the words before shouting out,  _ “We got a medical emergency, a medical emergency!” _

He spun back around to see Sunshine nearly doubled over in laughter, so Nico jumped over to him and continued shouting along to the song, dancing poorly along with the song as Sunshine continued to laugh.

When the song ended, Sunshine wrapped his arm around Nico’s waist and pulled him in for a kiss. “You’re ridiculous,” he said, just loud enough for Nico to hear over the radio.

Nico grinned. “Are you gonna try to shoot that cactus or are you just gonna keep kissing me?”

 

* * *

 

 

That night, after the sun had set and the stars had started to appear overhead, Sunshine had pulled Nico outside and laid out on the hood of Nico’s car to gaze up at the stars. Nico climbed up to lay next to him, grumbling that they were going to dent the hood, but silenced when Sunshine reached down and laced their fingers together.

“I never get tired of seeing the stars out here,” Sunshine told him softly, thumb softly stroking Nico’s hand in his. “Every night for close to a month after I got out of Bat City, I would stay up until the middle of the night, just staring up there. There’s no view like this in Battery City, that’s for sure.”

“When did you…” Nico hesitated, not knowing for sure what he wanted to say,  _ if _ he should say it, if he would like where it took them, “...get out?”

Sunshine paused. “It’s been a little less than a year. I didn’t realize-- And the people there were so-- But I never noticed--”

“Sunshine,” Nico cut in, hoping his voice would be calming enough that the blond could gather his thoughts.

He took a deep breath before he spoke again, squeezing Nico’s hand like the memories were causing him a physical pain that he needed to release. “I was a doctor. I’ve always wanted to help people, and I thought I  _ was, _ but I never realized… I worked for Better Living Industries, right in their headquarters, with Dracs and Scarecrows all around me every second of every day. All I ever really did was give people pills - I didn’t know what they were, I don’t think I had the clearance to know - and I felt more like an orderly than a doctor, but what better place was there to work than BLI, you know? And then… I found out what the pills were for. They were supposedly to give people a  _ better tomorrow _ but they were just sedatives to keep people vulnerable to BLI. I… I walked into the wrong room, once, and I saw one of the older doctors sewing on a Drac mask over somebody’s head, and-- And I ran.

“Somebody must have seen me because the next thing I knew there were Scarecrows chasing after me, and they took me down to the Tube - this underground chamber that--” He shut his eyes as a shiver passed through him, and Nico tightened his hold on Sunshine’s hand. “It was a torture chamber. I don’t know what it did to me, I don’t really remember, but I remember knowing that I had to run and hide somewhere that they would never find me. So I stole a car and drove out to the zones and found Apollo’s ambulance bay.”

The silence washed over them as Sunshine stopped speaking so abruptly, giving them each time to process what had been said.

“Did you know your patients’ names?” Nico whispered, already bracing himself for the answer. 

“Some of them,” Sunshine replied. “Why?”

“My sister, her name was Bianca,” Nico told him. “Somebody came to our apartment when I still lived in the city, and all I remember them saying was that something was wrong with Bianca, and she had to go in for treatment. They just took her and left me behind, completely by myself, and as soon as I found out what  _ treatment _ meant, I took off and ran out here. Every single day I think about Bianca, how I abandoned her back there, but I know there’s nothing I could have done.”

“I didn’t know a Bianca,” Sunshine said, and rolled his head to the side to look at Nico. “I don’t know if that’s better for you or worse. I’m sorry.”

Nico didn’t answer, but turned onto his side until he was facing Sunshine completely.

“What’s your name?” Sunshine whispered.

Nico’s eyes flickered up and met Sunshine’s in the dark. “Nico di Angelo.”

“Nico,” he whispered, and repeated it again and again. He rolled onto his side, bringing the two of them even closer together, and brought their joined hands up to his mouth to kiss Nico’s knuckles. “My name is Will Solace.”

 

* * *

 

They needed a part to get Will’s van up and running, but there were no spare parts out in the zones - at least not ones that Fandango hadn’t already turned into something else. Nico needed to sneak into the city to get his hands on...whatever Fandango said it was called, which probably wasn’t the real name of it anyway. 

Nico wasn’t looking forward to heading into the city in the first place, but he didn’t want to be away from Will for so long even more. 

He’d thrown on his mask and black leather jacket, holstered his gun, and tossed a jug of water into his car before realizing that he didn’t  _ have _ to be without Will.

“Come with me,” Nico said without preamble, stepping up to the open back of Will’s van where he was reorganizing his supplies again.

“Where?” Will asked without looking up.

“Battery City.” Will’s head shot up and the box he was holding slipped out of his hand. “I have to go on a supply run, and one of the things I need to get is a part for your van--”

“Ambulance.”

“--so if it’s _for_ _you,_ then maybe you should come with me.”

Will looked down at his hands and started unwrapping the ace bandage around his wrist - he’d stopped wearing the sling a few days ago - and rewrapped it once he reached the end. “I don’t know, babe, wouldn’t I just be in the way?”

“Of course not. If anything, you’ll be a big help. I’ve never had to go into the city for car parts, there’s usually enough out here in the zones, but you probably have a better idea of where to look.”

Will seemed hesitant, still rewrapping the bandage around his wrist before finally he started to nod. “Yeah, okay. Sure, I’ll come with you.”

Will knew it was a mistake to agree as soon as the words were out of his mouth, but then Nico looked too excited for him to take the words back. So instead, Will spent the entire drive with his hands balled into fists in his lap, nails cutting into the skin of his palms, as his anxiety started to eat away at him.

What the hell did he think he was  _ doing? _ This was like escaping from prison just to sneak back in for a joyride around town, it was  _ crazy. _ He probably wouldn’t even be any help in finding whatever part was needed for his ambulance - he didn’t know anything about cars! He was a  _ doctor _ not a  _ mechanic! _

Will tried to focus on the wide expanse of desert out the passenger window instead of the city walls looming ahead of them, and let Nico’s terrible singing along with the radio wash over him in an attempt to block out his anxious thoughts. 

There were tunnels underneath the city that led out into the zones - only Dracs and Scarecrows had the clearance to drive through them, but Nico didn’t seem to have a problem speeding inside. He pulled the car over on the side of the road inside the tunnel and pulled his mask over his eyes before exiting the car, Will following close behind.

Will felt himself shaking with every step, now realizing that it wasn’t anxiety he was feeling, but pure fear, until Nico reached out and tangled his fingers with Will’s. He shot Will a grin before pulling him along, and Will left his fear behind in the tunnel.

He’d never known how much fun stealing was until he was stealing from the giant, mind-controlling corporation that had single-handedly ruined so many peoples’ lives. Will had completely forgotten about feeling his own fear once they were weighed down by bags of food and medical supplies and a hunk of metal that would supposedly make his ambulance work again.

He’d forgotten about it until it hit him like a shot in the foot - the fear, of course, being brought on by an  _ actual _ shot to the foot.

They’d been spotted by a patrol car and Nico had grabbed Will’s hand and started to run, shots of light beaming past them, sparking where they connected with the ground around them, until one caught the underside of Will’s foot mid-step. 

They were chased into an alley, backed into a corner, a solid white BLI standard issue car blocking their only exit with two Dracs and a Scarecrow coming straight for them.

Will wished he would’ve been blinded by the pain so that he wouldn’t have been able to recognize the Scarecrow.

“William, we’ve been looking  _ everywhere _ for you,” came a voice that Will had wished he would never hear again. He looked up and met the harsh blue eyes of a man with a crooked grin and a scar down one side of his face. Will had looked up to him, once, but for the life of him couldn’t remember why. Luke raised a Drac mask, held in his hand by the fake hair sewn into the top of the mask. “Don’t you think it’s time you returned home?”

Nico shifted beside him, still bearing half of Will’s weight, but now pointing his gun out at Luke. “Die with your mask on, Sunshine,” he said, practically shouting it for the Dracs to hear.

“Ghost,  _ no--” _ Will said, tugging on the back of Nico’s jacket, trying to pull him back, to get between him and Luke, because if something happened to Nico he would never forgive himself.

“Ghost?” Luke repeated. “You mean like the Ghost King who’s been sneaking in and out of here unnoticed for  _ years,  _ that  _ Ghost King?” _

In seconds, Will was standing unsteady between them, gun raised and at the ready. “If you so much as  _ touch him, _ Luke, I swear to Destroya I  _ will  _ kill you.”

Luke had the audacity to laugh in his face.  _ “Please, _ Will, you couldn’t hurt a fly. At least, not like that you couldn’t, but maybe with  _ this.” _ He shook the mask in his hand, but Will didn’t back down. “How about a little proposition? You either put on the mask on your own, or we’ll shoot the Ghost King until there’s more holes in him than a block of Swiss cheese.”

Will grit his teeth. He knew that both of those options would lead to Nico being killed - by Luke or by Will-turned-Drac - but he couldn’t think fast enough to figure out which option might offer a better chance of survival. The only thought he had was to throw away his gun; if he didn’t have a weapon then he didn’t have a way of killing Nico.

So that’s what he did. 

Will tossed his gun to the side and looked up to see Luke’s grin twist and grow for just a second before the Drac mask was shoved over his head. The force of it knocked him off balance, practically throwing him to the ground. He squeezed his eyes shut, hoping that it would hold off whatever mind control was weaved into the material.

He couldn’t hear anything - no gunshots, no voices, no revving car engines - and the sensory deprivation was too much for him to handle. He felt like he couldn’t  _ breathe _ inside the mask, and his eyes shot open to search for something to keep him alive.

What Will saw was horrifying. All in black and white, static eating away at the edges.

He couldn’t tell what was real or fake. He saw Nico shooting aimlessly into a mob of Dracs - had there been that many there before? - until it looked like he was overrun. Will’s line of sight changed, like he’d risen off the ground, but he hadn’t felt his body move at all. He saw his own hand raise a gun, and the sea of Dracs parted around him until he saw Nico lying on the ground, reaching out to him for help -  _ “Will, please!” _ he thought he heard him say - then the scene shifted slightly and Nico was raising his hand in fear, crying out,  _ “Please, no!” _

Then he did feel his body moving - there were hands on his arms and legs, pulling him this way and that and he was afraid of being torn apart, limb from limb. He no longer saw Nico lying dead on the ground with a smoking wound in the center of his forehead, but instead felt himself being thrown, landing inside the back of a van - nothing like the back of his ambulance, something much worse, intended for hurting rather than healing. He felt hands ripping at his hair and he cried out in pain, and his hands were yanked away from his head and then--

Nico was in front of him in full color. His hands were framing Will’s face, his eyes the only part of him revealing how terrified he truly was, his mask pushed up into his hair.

“He’s not breathing,” Nico said, and suddenly registered Will’s eyes on him. “Sunshine,  _ breathe.” _

Will gasped for air, and Nico nearly collapsed forward in relief.

“Thank Destroya, I thought I lost you,” Nico whispered, pressing his forehead to Will’s.

“What--” Will tried to say, but couldn’t risk speaking too much at the chance of not being able to take in more air. Was he hyperventilating? “How--”

“Deep breaths, Sunshine,” Nico said soothingly, and ran a hand through Will’s hair. “We were saved in the knick of time. Red Menace here was driving by on her own run and managed to run over that guy with the huge scar on his face. She’s dropping us off in the tunnel where we left the car.”

Will didn’t want to take his eyes off Nico - what if he looked back and Nico was gone? - but his eyes flickered to his right and he saw a puff of curly red hair sitting behind the driver’s seat of the van. 

“We’re alive?” Will whispered, the tension in his chest decreasing and his severe need for air gradually fading away. “We’re...getting out?”

“We’ll be back in the zones in no time,” Nico promised him. He leaned down and detached something from Will’s waist. One of his first aid kits, it looked like, and then Nico moved to take off Will’s shoe. “And I  _ swear _ I will never make you come on a run with me again.”

Will shook his head. “You can’t either. You can’t come back. They know your face now, Ghost, you  _ can’t--” _

Nico shushed him softly. “Anybody that saw me is dead, Red and I made sure of it.”

“Dead as a doornail,” Red called back, and glanced at them in the rearview mirror. “Sorry, didn’t mean to eavesdrop. Pretend I’m not here.”

He shook his head again. “Not for... two months.”

Nico smiled at him. “We’ll need food before then.” By now he was wrapping Will’s gunshot wound in gauze, nice and snug just like Will had taught him.

“Fandango can go.”

At that, Nico actually laughed. “We’ll take that up with him later. For now, we’ve got plenty to last us, and you and I won’t be leaving the garage until your foot in completely healed. It’s time for me to take care of you for a change.”

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!!  
> i had a few more ideas sketched out that didnt make it into the fic, so let me know if youre interested in hearing them and i might post them on my tumblr @buoyantsaturn!!


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